Brian Johnson

Episode 55: Waving to Our Fears

“Unless you’re very lucky or
very enlightened, you’re likely to hear those nattering voices and
feel those nagging fears within you. They’re part of the deal. I
won’t try to talk you out of them, and you shouldn’t try to talk
yourself out of them, either. Just notice the voices and feel the
fears. That’s all you need to do with them. You don’t need to rid
yourself of them. Where would they go, anyway? All you need to do is
acknowledge them, wave to them, let them know you’re aware of them.
Then get busy learning to live in your Zone of Genius.” ~
Gay Hendricks from The
Big Leap

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Transcript

Waving to Our Fears

“Unless you’re very lucky or
very enlightened, you’re likely to hear those nattering voices and
feel those nagging fears within you. They’re part of the deal. I
won’t try to talk you out of them, and you shouldn’t try to talk
yourself out of them, either. Just notice the voices and feel the
fears. That’s all you need to do with them. You don’t need to rid
yourself of them. Where would they go, anyway? All you need to do is
acknowledge them, wave to them, let them know you’re aware of them.
Then get busy learning to live in your Zone of Genius.” ~
Gay Hendricks from The
Big Leap

That’s awesome. I don’t know about you, but I still hear those
little voices of fear in my head and those little fear gremlins
running through my system on occasion. I love Gay’s visual of
simply acknowledging them and WAVING at them. :)

Imagine that! The next time your little fearsicles come out,
rather than frantically try to get rid of ‘em or ignore them or
pretend they aren’t there, why not acknowledge them and WAVE at
them.

* WAVES! *

Maybe even throw in a wink and a smile and a little happy dance in
their direction. Then get busy doing what needs to be done as you
rock it in your Zone of Genius.

Reminds me of a couple of my favorite thoughts on fear. First, the
artist Georgia O’Keefe who said: “I’ve been afraid every
single day of my life, but I’ve gone ahead and done it anyway.”
Even Tiger Woods says that the day he’s not nervous stepping up to
the first tee is the day he quits.

The fact is that as we play at our edges, OF COURSE we’re gonna
have fear. That’s not a big deal. It’s how we *respond* to the
fear that’ll determine the quality of our lives. Let’s explore
some more great Ideas on how to deal with fear. (Gay’s got a lot of
‘em!!)